Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:01]:
You know, I know Christy had mentioned that I didn't say anything to the team about getting a recognition thing when we were in Hilo. But, you know, 25 years of faithful service, the only thing that's required for that to happen is you just don't quit. Right. And. And I think that has a lot to do with life. Right. As long as we don't quit, as long as we keep moving forward, as long as we keep trusting God, as long as we keep leaning into him, and amazing things can happen. You know, when some of you guys might be wondering, you know, what's the difference? You know, there's a licensing and ordination and all these things.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:36]:
What do those things mean? You know, when the. I remember when Pastor Rick, when Pastor Mitch went through licensing. Licensing is kind of like showing yourself approved in terms of study and making sure that you understand the Scriptures, you understand kind of the operation of a church biblically, you understand a number of. Kind of aspects on how we move forward and that we sense a call in your life. And ordination happens later. And it happens after a pastor has been seasoned, after he's kind of gone through actually a period of faithfulness, a period sometimes of testing. Right, right. Sometimes it's.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:21]:
Sometimes there's favor and growth and all those things, but it's the recognition that not only that you have been called, but that you have been found faithful, and that in that faithfulness, we recognize a level of authority. We recognize a level of spiritual authority. And so when Rick and Mitch got their ordination, we were so proud of them, having stood with them and them having stood with us. Can we just say congratulations again to our brothers Deverlyn and Kim as well. And, hey, you know, this evening, though, we're gonna change gears here in a second. We're gonna conclude our series this weekend. And, you know, like, as we're concluding the series, you know, obviously we even looked at it last week. It says in second Timothy three.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:17]:
16 that, you know, all scripture is inspired by God and it's productive. It's suitable for, you know, whether it's to correct and to inform, to instruct us, to reprove us, to keep us on the path of righteousness. Right. It's great. Everyone is for that. But, you know, this evening, we're going to take a look at a piece of scripture. It's found in Psalms, the Book of Psalms, Psalm 34. And to be honest, although there's the vast majority of the Psalm written in your notes or you're going to see it up on the screen, I highly Encourage you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:51]:
If you have a Bible, take your Bible out. If you have it on your phone, bring your phone out so that you can read it on your own and you can read it. And it's something that you read. And as well that, you know, highlight something, take a note on something, and you can do that in your notes, you know, obviously, but we're going to read this a little bit. But. But I believe this psalm is something that, you know, in some ways it ought to be. It ought to be tagged in your notes. It ought to be a bookmarked in your Bibles.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:21]:
It ought to be something that you read and pray often, you know, some people daily, you know, like the way that you start your day. And why do I say that? Because there are important lessons in this, in this psalm, in this scripture that are born out of experience and born out of hardship. And if we want to stand strong in the storms of life, we got to learn some lessons from the cave. You know, one of the things that we find in this scripture is it starts out, and for most of us, if you look at your Bibles, and before that, there's a little bit, before we actually get into verse one, that there's a little tag under there in the new American Standard, it says it like this, that the Lord, a provider and deliverer, a psalm of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed. Now, you know, this makes reference to something that we find happening in 1st Samuel 15, where David's on the run. You guys remember, before David is king, he's been anointed. He's following God. He slays David, not David.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:35]:
He slays Goliath the giant, right? And he rises up. But King Saul becomes jealous. King Saul becomes, feels a competition where, not that David is competing, David is surrendered to him. David is looking up to him. David sees him as the anointed. Yet Saul sees him as not just competition, but really over time, an enemy. And so the king begins to plot his demise, right? Tries to literally take him out with a sword, tries to do all these things. And so David senses, not senses, but he cannot deny any longer that the king has lost it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:19]:
And the king is out of control. And so he does what he can. He withdraws. He withdraws. And what happens is that I think all of us, what happens to him is like what happens to us in moments like that, that fear can arise, right? And in the midst of that, a fear can take hold. And in this series, we started by really talking about the fact that everybody goes through storms in life, and it could be various different kinds of relational, financial, you know, about your calling, about your place in life, your identity. There can be all kinds of storms that happen. But the thing is that when the fear comes, right, sometimes how do we face that? And David goes through that same lesson.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:02]:
And last week we talked about how to prepare before the storm. So for those of us who are in a great season, it's been. God has been moving. God, you sense his favor. It's awesome. It's wonderful. We stand and celebrate that. But we also know that storms will come.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:18]:
And so how do we prepare? Advance, Right? That's what we talked about. Building our life on the rock and. And resetting towards obedience. But in this situation, David's fear has kind of got the best of him. And the king would love to publicly say that he loved David, but would really try to kill him. And so in that time when he felt like he ran out of options, he runs from the frying pan into the fire. Anybody ever been in that kind of a place? You know, things are going sideways in your life. Things are going, you know, kind of.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:51]:
It's. It's not a great season, and you get scared, and then you make your problem worse. Anybody ever made their problems worse? Right? You make a bad decision, you make a fear decision. And it's not a faith decision that David makes. And I think it records it, because those of us who've ever been in this kind of situation, sometimes we've been in that too. And David obviously had some serious problems. But what it says is in this place, that David then goes before Abimelech, which is really a title. It's the title.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:23]:
Abimelech is like saying Pharaoh like a king, right? Like Caesar. It's not really a name. It's a title. And so he goes before Abimelech, who is the king of Gath. Who is. His name is Gosh. What is his name? I had it written and I forgot. Achish.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:42]:
That's right. Achish is his name. And you'll see this. If you ever want to read it, you can read this portion in 1st Samuel 15. But what we find is that. Anybody know where Gath is or why Gath might be known? Because somebody pretty famous in the Bible is from Gath. Who's that? Goliath. Goliath, yeah, the big guy, right? He goes to Gath, Goliath's hometown, sees Goliath's king, and he comes carrying.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:14]:
To be honest, we see this earlier in 1st Samuel 15, he's carrying Goliath's sword, which is a very unusual sort. And so when they see him, David is like, at that place, and he goes like, maybe this wasn't the right call, right? Because they all set their eyes on him and suspicion. And it's like they want to take him in, not in a positive way. And so it's at that place. David, quick on his feet, pretends like this was a crazy decision. So you know what? I might as well act crazy. So he starts acting like a crazy person, right? He drools from his thing. He's like babbling.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:53]:
He does all these things until they look at him. It's like, why did you bring me this guy? This guy is just nuts. We have enough crazy people in our own kingdom. And he kind of kicks him out. Now this is what happens. This is the prelude to what we're going to read in Psalm 34. Because David amplifies his problems by his own fear that he comes to this place. When he escapes, David doesn't say, oh, brother, I am.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:23]:
I had a man, you know, I was like, quick on my feet. I got out of it. You know, he doesn't say that. Instead, he says with a spirit of humility that, wow, I know this could be way worse. It wasn't for God, I wouldn't be where I am. And so David goes to this place called Adullam and he hides in these caves. If you've ever been to Israel, there are these massive caves in this place where the cave of Adullam is housed. And they can hold several hundred people in these caves.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:02]:
They're massive caves that actually even their families can be living in there. And David lived in there. And this is what he writes in the cave. And so if you've ever been in the cave that it's a place of darkness, at times it's not the most comfortable location. Sometimes we are trying to avoid the consequences. Sometimes you're trying to avoid danger. Sometimes you're just trying to get through a season. That's where David was in this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:28]:
And he was surrounded by some of his most faithful men. In fact, other people who had problems like them joined David in the cave because they saw in him something that was worth following. A faith, a commitment, a character, a righteousness, a leadership. David knows that God has spared his life. So we're going to take a look at some lessons and largely read through the psalm together. And it starts like this. Can we stand in reverence for God and reverence for his word. These words might sound familiar because I read them before worship.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:05]:
Let's read what it says together. Verses one to three. Ready? Let's read. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord. Let the humble hear and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:26]:
Let us exalt his name together. So before you're seated, do me a favor, just turn to your neighbor, says, hey, it's always the right time to praise God. And then you can have a seat. It's always the right time, whether you feel it or you don't feel it. And he does it with a spirit of humility. And so praise God at all times in humility. You know, it's easy to praise God when you know, when you're flying high. It's easy to praise God when you're in a comfy situation.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:59]:
But David is reading this. David is saying this. David is praying this when he's in the cave, when it's a challenging time. And you know, it says that we talked about. It says, would your praise be continually in my mouth? And I talked about that. Sometimes it's great to have praise in your heart, but there's something that happens when we declare it with our mouth. We. We change a situation.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:22]:
Sometimes we change the spiritual atmosphere in which we find ourselves. If there is a spirit of fear when you start to praise, it changes. The spirit of fear becomes a spirit of trust. It becomes a spirit of peace. It becomes a spirit of confidence. David senses this. So he says, come join me. Let's worship and bless and praise the king.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:45]:
And he goes, look, let's magnify the Lord. Let's say magnify. What does magnify mean? In some ways? Means to kind of enlarge, right? It means to make it bigger. It means to kind of declare in this sense. And what is he declaring? He's declaring that nothing is bigger, nothing is stronger. Nothing is bigger than his God, right? That whatever problems he faces, whatever challenges that he's going through, whatever situation that there's lack, whatever place of confusion, he's saying that my God is bigger and it's in praise that we say that whatever is happening in my life, God, you're bigger still. When you start speaking to your problems, to your challenges and saying that my God is bigger, rather than looking at how big your problems are, something begins to shift. And it usually starts in you, but sometimes it works out in the world.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:40]:
And we don't always feel like that, though, right? You guys always feel like that? No, I don't. Right. I'll be honest, I don't. Right. It's just like praying. Do you always feel like praying? No. Does it mean that you should only pray when you feel like it because you don't want to be a hypocrite? I didn't feel like praying, so I'm not going to pray. No.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:57]:
That's just called growing up in your faith. Right. It's just called maturing in your faith that you don't just pray when you feel like it. You pray because you know you need to pray. That's called wisdom. Right. That's called maturity. It's called intelligence that we do that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:11]:
It's the same with worship. It's the same with praise. Because in fact, sometimes when you feel least like you want to worship is when you need to worship the most. When your heart is heavy, when you're grieving, when you don't even have the words at times. You know, like that song that we sang, that last song. We haven't sang that in years. Right? That last song. Right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:37]:
That still. Right. Hide me now under your wings. I remember singing that song when one of our friends who helped start the church, some of us, you know, Violeta lapotte, the first person in our church that was stood with us, was there from the beginning, from the first service, before the first service and all of that. And she, you know, she was battling cancer and she lost that fight. But you know what? She arrived in heaven victorious, remember? Just standing in a bunch of us singing over her. And we're singing over. We're singing this song.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:20]:
And you know that. But she left behind a daughter, right? She left behind a husband who wants to sing in that time. But you know what we were doing? We were just saying, jesus, your name is bigger than cancer. Lord Jesus, your name is bigger than. Even when she passes from this life and she leaves behind this body that has been ravaged, she's going to stand new in you. That's what we were declaring, right? And you know, something changed in that room at St. Francis west, in the hospice at St. Francis West.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:00]:
We sensed it. We all sensed it. And, you know, this is what Isaiah tells us. He says in Isaiah 60, 61:3. It says this because he wants to grant to those who mourn, because we all mourn at times. And we were in that process, we all prayed for healing, but we apparent that healing was going to be on the other side. He says that to all those who mourn in Zion. To.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:23]:
To give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit. You see, sometimes when we worship, when we praise and we declare it, God is able. He meets us and he changes. You have this sorrow, you have this sadness. You have this morning. And he says, going to raise that spirit that is faint, that they might be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. And so David senses that. He understands that it's like, man, I almost, in my fears, I made some wrong decisions and it could have been the end.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:14]:
But I praise my God that he rescued me. And he comes with a spirit of humility, right? And that when we praise, when we come, we all ought to kind of check our pride at the door, right? Whenever you come before God, you check your pride at the door. In the old days, we would say this. We're going to pray. What did people do? They literally got on their knees, right? Do you have to get on your knees to pray? No, you don't, right? But to be honest, sometimes your posture can influence your attitude. You guys ever noticed that? You ever see some guys walk into the room? That posture influences the attitude. On the other hand, we've seen something like this, right? Walk in. So what do we tell the guy who's bent over? Stand straight, right? What about the guy who swaggers? Tone them down a little bit, right? Maybe like, hey, be friendly, right? Like, maybe.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:14]:
Why? Because your posture can influence your attitude. And if getting on your knees at home, if getting on your knees helps you to assume a better posture before God, we need to humble ourselves, right? Because we don't come in barging in that, but we come confidently. Be boldly before the throne of grace. But we remember who we come to, right? King of kings, Lord of Lords. There's only one God. And I am absolutely convinced, like I'm sure you are, that you're not him, Right? You know what? When people say, I am Jesus, you know, one of the things that you can be pretty assured of. They're crazy, right? If you ever meet somebody who literally says, I'm Jesus, that battle is crazy. Because the reality is we are sometimes the farthest thing from that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:10]:
So what do we do? We come with a spirit of humility. It's not saying that you come with spiritual insignificant syndrome. It's just we bow our knee, we know where to bow our knee. We know when to be teachable, we know when we need to seek, we know where we need to listen. And so it says, that's what we do. He says this, I sought the Lord, verse 4. Let's read that together. Verse 4.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:34]:
I sought the Lord, right? So he's seeking God. Why are we seeking God? Because he's the treasure. Because he's the source of life. Because he's the one who gives direction. He's the One who brings comfort. He's the one who moves forward. He said, I sought the Lord and He answered Me and delivered me from. From what? All my fears.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:55]:
Not some, right? Not just the thing that is like not so bad. Not the number one, but the number tens he cannot handle. He says, no, but he delivered me from all my fears. And those who cried to him looked radiant. Let's say the word radiant. You know, that word radiant is like a mom's face when she been away for a while and she hasn't seen her children. And maybe for some that like, it's like you gave up hope because you had a custody situation. You had a situation.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:28]:
And all of a sudden you think about it like this. And someone who never thought they're going to see their kids again because they heard there was an accident and they don't know what happened. And then they see their kids. When they see their kids, mom's face changes. That's radiance, right? The beaming, like, oh, my God, you're here. That's what he says, that those who look to the Lord are radiant because there's a restoration. Because he's the God of hope, because he's the God who's present. Even in the midst of the difficulty, he goes on, if we keep reading, and it says this, that the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers him.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:14]:
And what does this talk about? In verse seven, it says, remember his presence. Remember his presence. He's with you, especially when you can't see it, right? It says the angel of the Lord encamps around you. Now, I haven't knowingly seen an angel. Anybody here. I'm just going to just throw this out. Anybody here ever felt like they literally saw an angel? Not the TV show, right, that I saw, but like, but you saw a real angel. Anybody ever hear, okay, oh, that's right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:45]:
And you know, our sister, I remember her saying that she, she had seen an angel, right? And it's like. And sometimes we're. And I've never, I've never seen an angel. I was not knowingly. Because, you know, the thing is that Hebrews tells us some of us, we have seen angels. You just. You didn't. You just didn't know.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:04]:
Some of us have entertained. And angels, it says, unaware that that's who they were, because they come, they surround God's people. You have been surrounded from the moment you say yes to Jesus. From the moment that you become a child of the king. God dispatches the heavenly host to surround you, to guard you, to protect you, right? Because God is listening, not as an observer. He doesn't just hear your prayer. Like, you guys ever on, like a phone call, and you have it, and you put it on speakerphone and you go, oh, yeah. Really? Huh? Yeah.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:43]:
Yeah. Wow, that's awesome. You guys ever do that? God is not preoccupied when he listens to our prayer. God is not preoccupied when you call out to him. He's attentive. And in fact, he. To show his presence, he often dispatches. It says angels.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:06]:
Now, like I said, I've never seen one, but I know I've heard one, right? I know that driving up Red Hill, as a young man driving up Red Hill, merging that lane into traffic one night, all of a sudden I heard this. I heard somebody shout in the car. Like, I literally felt like somebody shouted at me, stop. As I'm making that merge up at Red Hill. And so I just literally. I stopped getting into the lane. And then as soon as I did that, like, like 90 miles an hour, this guy just blows past me. You know, like when it's so close that your car does that from the right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:50]:
It's like, I never heard anything like that prior in my life. And I'll be honest, I haven't heard since. I know that we've had times where at worship, Naoko, our keyboard person, right, that she's often playing that. We were at that time at, uh, west, and it was like just a sweet, sweet worship time. And she was literally saying this. Where did this. Like, how did you guys get this sound? That this. It's like this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:23]:
There was like, this woman singing so beautifully behind me, and she's like, along the wall. How did we do that? It's like, oh, we don't know what you're talking about. Like, the sound guys, right? Talking to them. It's like, how, like. But she said in the midst of the worship that she heard, like, literally, like, somebody standing behind her and singing the worship to God, that we were worshiping alongside the angels of heaven, right? And you know, the thing is, even though I haven't seen it, I've known his protection. And I don't really talk about this story very often. And maybe some of you heard me say it, like in a small group, but I don't think I've. I don't know if I've even really said it in this kind of a setting, but when I was a.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:15]:
On staff with Campus Crusade for Christ, when really as a missionary, there was a situation once where somebody who got involved, you know, they had some problems, they had some mental problems, they had some emotional problems. And he got obsessed with one of the gals in the movement that we had, and we had to step in and she had to file a restraining order. And so we were all there at the court, and I'm literally at the court, and he's staring at her outside the court, right? And he's a big kid. He's a big kid. He's like 6ft 1 or whatever. And I'm all of 5 4, right? And so he's staring and I just step in between. And I said, hey, you know what? Stop staring at her. He says, yeah, I can stare anywhere.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:00]:
And he's like, you know, it's kind of. We're kind of going back and forth. And then he leans over and he's like this close to my face, right? And I go. I go more close then, right? That kind of a thing. And we are in this situation and, you know, like, a police officer walks by and he says, brad, what are you guys doing? You guys know where you are? I can arrest you both or whatever that case, right? But he. I was going to protect the girl, right? I was going to protect that young woman from this guy if he cannot listen and obey the law, right? Well, what happened is, then a couple weeks later, I hear he made a threat to come. And somebody who heard him say that he was going to come and we had our weekly meeting, and he was going to come and shoot people at the weekly meeting. This is before stuff like this was common.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:53]:
And the thing I knew about this guy because I tried to reach out to him. So I knew a bunch about him. I knew where he lived. I dropped him at his house many times. I had his phone number. I called him because I knew his roommate had a gun. And so when I heard that he said this and that he was going to come, I called the roommate. I said, hey, is so and so there? And he said, no.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:14]:
They say, can you do me for it? Can you check if you have your gun? He says, gone for a little while. He comes back and then he says, you know, I don't have. I Don't know where my gun is it. Somebody took it. So I knew who took it, called the cops, tried to get them to come, and they said, hey, nothing we can do. Because we never heard anything. Nobody heard it directly. I mean, you're not the guy who heard it directly.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:41]:
So they wouldn't even send anybody. We called, uh, because we were at, uh. And they send a couple guys and they just sit inside the room. They said, just sit inside the room, but I don't want to wait till a guy with a gun is coming in the room where everybody's seated, right? So we had this situation and some of the. Some guys, football players and different things. I just said we stationed people in different places. And the instruction I had was like, if that guy shows, don't, like, physically engage him. Call me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:12]:
I'll be there right at that moment. And I literally, at that moment, felt like that day. And I remember telling. We were talking about it because my friends were here recently that were on staff with me at that time. And I don't know why, because this kid's name came up who afterwards since went to prison and died in prison. But I literally said, you know, Lord, I. I feel like I don't know, am I going to meet you today face to face? Is this the day I go home? Right? And I just said, lord, we just asked that you would protect your people. Would you intervene? And, you know, that night that we were there, he never showed up.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:08]:
I knew he was committed to do that. And, you know, like I said, he had some problems and ended up going to prison. And, you know, the thing is, it's only God that can steer away at times. The storm like that. And the angel of the Lord doesn't just encamp around me or it's for the children of God. Do me a favor, turn to your neighbor. Says God encamps around you today. You're not alone.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:39]:
You're not just getting through life all on your own. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, right? And my Savior, my God is my rock. He says, I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me and my place of safety. That's Psalm 18:2. But sometimes when we're in this place, he also strengthens our hands for war. In spiritual battle, there's a war that rages in the heavenly realms. And he says this because he trains my hands for battle.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:19]:
He strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow. What does God's training camp looks like training us for war? Sometimes it's. It's knowing how to pray. Sometimes it's knowing how to stand our ground. Sometimes it's not letting our fears overtake us, but being able to stand in the midst of fear. Not just a false bravado, but sometimes with wisdom. Sometimes the most tactical thing you do is to listen to Jesus and he tells you to leave, right? And so it isn't saying, I'm not saying I never get afraid. Of course I do.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:54]:
Of course you do. But the goodness is. The good news is this, that you don't have to face those fears alone because the angel of the Lord literally is with you. You just don't see it. But what do we do then? We keep seeking the Lord, right? That we keep seeking the Lord. In verse eight, it goes on, and he says, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:32]:
The young lions suffer want and hunger. But those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Now, you know, like when we started the series, I said this, that sometimes you see storm clouds brewing on the horizon, and it doesn't seem like anything you do that you just cannot, you know, you can't escape the storm, right? You can't outrun the storm. There's some storms we can outrun. Most of them we don't. Right? But one of the things that we didn't really talk about is that how do we, you know, you don't dictate whether you get a storm. You know, what we can dictate sometimes by our decisions is how long the storm lasts. Everybody goes through the storms, but sometimes our decisions and our choices can dictate how long the storm will last.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:24]:
When the people of God came out of Israel, it says this, that that was supposed to last one year. It was supposed to last one year. They would go through the desert. They would. They would first come out of Egypt, they would cross the Red Sea, they would go through the Jordan area, up Arabia, they would circle around, come, and it would be a year before they got there. It was only supposed to last a year. But because of their disobedience, because of their spiritual straying, because that they refused to trust God, they refused to go where God was leading them. This is what it says.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:02]:
They ended up doing 40 lap years in the desert. Right. You know, it wasn't supposed to be that we can extend our time in the desert and in the storm by our decisions. And so we got to keep trusting him. Let's say that I Can keep trusting. Can you keep trusting? Right? Turn the neighbor, say, I can keep trusting him. Say, with your own mom. Some people, you got to move their mom because they're not saying nothing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:30]:
No, it's getting better. But, you know, it says this, how do we do that? How do we do that? How do we keep trusting and seeking the Lord? It says this. You got to taste and see that the Lord is good. You got to taste and see what the Lord is good. What does that say? It says, you got to know by experience. Anybody here ever tell you to eat something that's weird? And they go, right? And then they tell you, but it's good, right, brother, this thing is ono. And then you go like. You look at it and you're like, I don't know.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:04]:
But that thing. No look on know, right? How many of us here, if I said this, how many of you would love to eat squirrel? How many of you would want to eat squirrel? What if I told you, but squirrel is delicious, Would you want to eat squirrel? No. Why? Because it's kind of weird, right? It seems like a rodent, like a rat. I was on a survival trip when I was in high school in Alaska, and we literally had to catch our food or kill our own food and learn how to forage a few things. But the biggest thing was there's tons of squirrels. So we just were like cavemen out, grab one stick and get some rocks, and, like, if we can, we would try to throw the rock at the squirrel. And, you know, we're not that good aimed, so they would. They would get frazzled.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:59]:
Till one day when they. Not one day, but you try to do that enough so that they run down the tree. And when they run down the tree, this is what the stick is for. Bang. Right? And I remember when we were hunting the squirrels, they let us get into groups, so we were doing this as a group. I remember this little. Not little girl, but a girl. She was a high schooler, too, just like us.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:22]:
And she said this, run away, little squirrel, so they can't hurt you. And she says, like, what are you doing? You let that squirrel get away. She says, you know, I would never, ever eat a squirrel. Guess who was eating squirrel on day three, right? You know, when you haven't eaten in three days, you know what you find? Roast squirrel is phenomenal. On the fire, it tastes like bacon. Everything they cook on the fire tastes like bacon for whatever the reason. But it's like, it's phenomenal. It's like good eating.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:55]:
And then you Know what? I saw some shows where guys in the south, they go squirrel hunting. And they said, squirrel is good eats. Yeah, right. But you know, but some people, you know, what? How do you know if it's good? At some point, you got to taste for yourself. You got to experience for yourself sometimes it's not what people say. David can say, you know, this is awesome. You should trust God. But this is what he's saying.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:23]:
You got a taste for yourself, you know, when you know for your own self. David isn't just sharing his personal experience. He's inviting us to come have that same experience. Come, taste and see. Experience that God is faithful, that he's good, that he'll be good to you, that He. He's listening to you earnestly, that he's not going to throw you in the fire because he doesn't like you. He's inexperienced. He's calling you so that you can experience him in the middle of the situation.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:58]:
He's inviting us to read God's Word. This is a great psalm that, again, every believer should be familiar with. Maybe this is something that you read in the morning. This is something that you read to start your day with praise and worship and then seeking the Lord. And you know what, Lord? Help me to. Help me to taste of youf goodness today. Help me to follow youw. That whatever it is that yout say, Lord, I know that yout'll say it because youe love me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:23]:
I know that yout'll say it because youe're leading and guiding me, that I know that yout'll say it not for my harm, but for my good taste. And see, because it's not just about reading words. It's not just about reading the Bible. It's experiencing the God who's a provider, experiencing the God who's our strength, experiencing the God who's our healer. He's the one who gives you his presence. He's the Savior. That's what God wants you to experience. So if your body isn't working right, call to God and you're confused and you don't know what decision to make, call out to God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:01]:
Then when you lack the power to face the storm, you ask God, God, I don't have the power. You confess, I don't have the power. I need you. Can you give me your strength? That's when you start seeing and tasting and seeing that the Lord is good when you put your lot with him right. And then it says this. You got to keep choosing reverence and what's right. Right. It's one thing to put our lot with God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:30]:
It's one thing to say, God, whatever you say, whatever you want, whatever you, you want me to do, I'll do it. Whatever you want me to say, I'll say it. Wherever you want me to go, I'll go. Whatever it is, that's one thing to say. And that's a good thing to say. Do me a favor, turn to your neighbor. That's a good thing to say. It's something that you, you should say, God, if you tell me to go, I'll go.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:51]:
If you tell me to say something, I'll say something, right? You tell me to stop, I'll stop. It's a good thing to say, but you got to keep choosing reverence and what's right. Why do I say that? Because in Psalm 34, 11, 17, it says this. So come, O children, listen to me and, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Let's say fear of the Lord, right? He says, what man is there who desires life and many days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. In other words, speak the truth. Stay away from what you know are lies. He says, turn away from evil and do good.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:28]:
Seek peace and pursue it. Because the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil to cut off the memory of them from the earth when the righteous cry for help. Let's read that last part. What does it say? The Lord hears and delivers them out of their troubles. Sometimes in relationships, every long standing relationship, a marriage, sometimes family, right? Sometimes real long time friends, that we can take each other for granted. You guys know what I mean? It's like you take for granted that when you come home somebody cooked a meal. Sometimes it's like when you come home, somebody else was going to do the taxes, right? Or that when you come home, somebody else is going to take out the trash, right? We all take somebody.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:28]:
You ever take somebody for granted? Right? I mean, I wish we'd been married 27 years, 28 years, right? To be honest, I know there's been times I've taken that for granted. I have the most wonderful wife. And I wish I could say I never took her for granted, but I'd be lying, right? But you know what you do when you notice that? You just stop doing it, right? You stop doing it. And this is what the fear of the Lord is, that the fear of the Lord is to Have a reverent regard for God. It's not to be afraid of God. It's not that. Like I have. I'm.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:12]:
I'm so paralyzed by my fear that I cannot come before God. This is not what we're talking about. But it's when we lose our awe of God, when we become so focused, familiar that we treat God without any honor, without any reverence, without any respect, right? He's like. He's the big man upstairs, right? You know, that kind of a thing. And it's like, I'm gonna talk to the. I remember my uncle once saying. He said, hey, what is the. What is the old man upstairs say? I said, oh.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:41]:
He said, I don't know you. No, but my uncle was shocked, actually, but because he just didn't have any reverence. I wanted him to have a little bit of reverence, right? For God. And the thing is that God wants us to have reverence for him. He doesn't say, cower in fear, you know, and, like, don't show your face to me. He's saying, instead, have a holy and reverent fear of God. We ought to have disrespect. Because you know what? Jesus said it like this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:15]:
Don't fear the one who can kill your body and soul, he says, fear the one who can kill your body but can dispose of your soul for eternal judgment, right? Knowing that. Knowing that, we ought to have a. A little bit of reverence, don't you think? Right? So we have this sense. Not a person who's scared of God, but a person who loves God but recognizes man. I ain't God. And there's only one. Because if you have a fear of God that you cannot come before him, it's either the fact that you don't understand the fear of the Lord, or you're disobeying God. That's why you hide.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:03]:
When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden and God came, what does it say? They hid, right? Because their sin and their shame, right? Sometimes that's why we hide from God. And the thing is that God doesn't want you hiding, right? God knew they were naked, right? God knows everything. He just wanted them to trust him and own up for where they were. That's all he wanted. But he knows what's happened. Do me a favor, turn. Your neighbor says God knows what happens. He knows that, but he just wants you to come with reverence.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:48]:
And then he goes on and he says this in verse 17. Let's read this 17 to 18 together. Can we Ready? Let's read. When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. And you know, I think what God is saying this is, remember God's heart for you in every season. Because God's faithfulness is woven through all the verses.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:29]:
I believe in Psalm 34, but when we look at it and when we read it, I think it refreshes and strengthens our faith in God. It's a way to align our heart with his heart, right? And God's heart through all this. God's heart through all this is this. It's not that everything is going to be easy, right? That's not what he's saying. Because the man or the woman of faith will never become the man or woman of faith because they lead a perfect or an easy life. That just doesn't happen, right? But we become that because we've gone through the challenge, because we've trusted God despite the hard times, right? And sometimes when you go through a hard time, you guys ever feel tempted to feel sorry for yourself? Right? You know, when I've been tempted to feel sorry for myself, these verses literally comfort me, right? Because why do I feel sorry for myself? Or why am I tempted to? Because it's. Again. Well, nobody else is going through what I'm going through, right? You guys ever feel like that? Nobody else knows this? Nobody else has this kind of a situation.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:40]:
But this is what he's saying. He says this. Actually, it's verse 19. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. But what's the good news he delivers you through them all? You know what? It reminds me? I'm nobody special, right? When he says, many are the afflictions of the righteous. It's not that God has it out for me, right? It's just this, that the reality is this, that it's not that God gives righteous people more problems. It's just that our faith in God, our relationship with God, doesn't make us immune to the human condition, right? You and I, we all still get old if we're lucky, right? Because what's the alternative? If you're here, you're still listening to my voice, even at home. You know what? You eat something that's spoiled, what happens? You get sick, right? You don't sleep, what happens? You get tired, right? We're all subject to the human condition.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:57]:
But this is what God's promises. I promise that my presence and my power can be shown in whatever your circumstance. Even if you have more challenges than you thought, than you wanted, then you could foresee. Because many are the afflictions of the righteous. But the Lord saves them out of some. I hope you guys know that that was heresy, what I just said. Because this is what it says, right? But the Lord delivers him how? Out of them all. So whatever it is that you're going through right now, God's going to see you through it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:40]:
He's standing with you. You're not facing this alone. We're all fallen, we're all broken, right? We all need grace and mercy. God knows that. That's why he came. That's why he sent his son. That's why Jesus came to. The good news is that he came to seek and save that which was lost.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:00]:
He came because you. He saw you. He saw me in the future. And he says this. I'd rather die on the cross than for you to be lost. That's what he said. How do we know? Because that's what he did. He never leaves us.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:22]:
He never forsakes us. So when you're going through that difficult season and you don't even know why, sometimes you go into a difficult season, right? Sometimes we want to know why. Because if we know why, we think it's going to make it easier or whatever. Sometimes you know, sometimes you don't know. I think for most of us, to be honest, you don't always know why unless you know that you caused it. But even when you feel broken and something is nagging at you, that something is broken inside. Would you know that your brokenness before God is precious? Most things in life, when it's broken, its value diminishes. The human soul is the only thing that I know.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:05]:
When it's broken becomes a more valuable thing to God. Because this is what he says, right? That he's drawn to our brokenness. He says, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. O God, you will not despise God when you feel broken before God. God sees that as a precious thing. Because you're open, you're honest, you're surrendered. The righteous are not perfect people, says many, are the afflictions of the righteous.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:54]:
Why is that? Because there aren't any, right? There's no perfect people. They are people that despite their imperfections, despite. Despite their failures, despite their sin, that they continue to seek after God. They continue to trust God's heart, God's ways. They're the ones who hunger for his presence. When we hunger for God's presence and we make him our priority, we don't make him our leftover. We make him our priority. Then it says in that moment that God meets us.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:30]:
And you know what? Eventually, he delivers us to all of our afflictions. Psalm 54:10. I mean, sorry. Isaiah 54:10 says this. The mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from. From you. My covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you. Every time you see God, every time you pray, every time you seek him in his word, every time you align yourself with God's path, the path of the righteous that he draws near, and he says this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:22]:
Psalm 34. This is the last verse of that psalm. It says this. The Lord redeems the life of his servants, and none who take refuge in him will what be condemned in the storm. Never think that it's because God's judgment, because God has abandoned you, because he's going to keep you hanging. Sometimes it seems like nothing is happening. Everything is so slow. But you know what I found over time is when it seems like things are at a stalemate, it's stuck.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:59]:
And you're praying, and you're praying. God, would you move? Would you move? Often the greatest miracles look like this. There's nothing happening. There's nothing happening. There's nothing happening. There's nothing happening. And then you start getting a little bit of hope. It's just things like, it's just a little crack, maybe a little bit of daylight, a little bit of like, oh, I don't know, is God doing something? And when that thing opens, you feel like, whoa, whoa, whoa, Lord, this is too fast.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:36]:
You guys ever been in that place? Lord, would you make the way? I feel like I'm waiting forever. Then you start telling God, God, can you slow it down? Can you slow this down? Because the blessing of God is coming. Because now, instead of you waiting on God, God is waiting on you. It's in those moments he shows himself. So you can give him your pains, you can give him your problems, you can give him your challenges, you can give him your hopes, you can give him your dreams, you can give him your plans, because you're giving him, giving them to the One who knows you and loves you all the days of your life. And he works on your behalf. Ephesians 3:20. It's not in your notes says this, but to him who is able to do far more abundantly than we all ask or think, according to the power that's within us to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:46]:
What does that mean? Not just you, but your kids too, and their kids after that, forever and ever. Amen. You don't have to wait to cry out to God like that because you can do it today. I encourage you. Do it every day. Do it every day. You might not read this psalm every day, but God is a very present help in time of trouble. Amen.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:19]:
Let's bow our heads. We're closing the word prayer. Father, I am so thankful for this psalm because it shows me, Lord. It shows me that it's possible to please you, Lord. It shows me how good you are. It shows me your kindness. It shows me how to stand, Lord, in times where I'm in the cave, Lord. It shows me that when I might have even compounded my own problems, it doesn't put me beyond the pale in youn grace, in youn power.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:04]:
Because, Lord, as many as my problems may be, as many as our problems may be, Lord, thank youk that yout can deliver us out of them all. And if you're in the middle of something right now, and this is that season and you'd're in that season, would you do me a favor? Would you just cup your hands and would you'd place in your hands, in your mind's eye, would you place in your hands whatever you think that greatest problem is? It could be your grief, it could be your finances, it could be a relationship that has gone sideways that you don't even know how to fix. It could be a door that you've been waiting to open and nothing, there's no daylight. Whatever it is, you place that in God's hands in your hands. And would you offer it to God? And as you offer it to God, would you magnify the Lord with me? Would you tell God and tell your challenge that your God is stronger than this, that your God is kinder than this, that your God is holier than this, that your God is more worthy than this, that your God is able to do a better abundantly, beyond what you can ask or think than this? Because, Father, today we're taking the lessons from the cave. And we're thankful. Even though we might be in the cave today, we're not going to be in this cave forever. Thank you, that you make a way that we're not immune to the conditions.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:59]:
The human condition and what we're placing before youe is part of our human condition. But thank youk, Lord, that yout go deliver us through them all. We confess it to youo. We speak it over these things. And Father, would you'd praise rise in our hearts. Because Lord, that's the path. The path to a blessed life. In Jesus name we pray God's people say Amen.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:57:28]:
Amen. Hey, God bless you guys. Thanks for joining us.